Here’s the Hollywood-Style Tip

Notice how the backdrop makes these images look glamorous and professional?

It adds an air of chic and exclusivity. And it brings attention to the organization or company putting on the event!

Now, imagine using this technique for yourself.

You can get people to line up in front of a backdrop to take their pictures. In fact, if you want to make it feel even more exclusive (and interesting in the photos), lay down a red carpet or surround the backdrop with a velvet rope.

Does this sound like too much fuss to you?

Well, let’s take a look at the benefits.

It makes your pictures look exciting.
When others see these pictures, they’re likely to ask where the picture was taken and for what occasion. It’s a chance for clients and prospects to strike up a conversation about you; thus increasing word-of-mouth for your practice.

You’ll end up with even more pictures than normal.
Place your backdrop near the entrance of the venue prior to your event. Have a photographer ready to snap pictures, and as guests start filing in, have them pose in front of the backdrop for their professional photo.

This gives you more opportunities to print out images to send thank-you letters to your prospects and clients, or (after receiving permission) you can publish these branded images across your website and social media platforms.

You might even find an ideal spot in a seasonal or quarterly newsletter to highlight past events and build up hype for upcoming ones.

You get free brand advertising!
People love to share pictures of themselves, especially if they’re dressed up and at a fun event. You can be pretty sure that when your prospects and clients get access to their pictures, they’re going to share them on social media. This means, people will be circulating pictures that have your branding on them.

Don’t have a video backdrop yet? If you don’t already have a branded backdrop to use, we offer them through the Platinum Promotional Shop.

By now, we hope you can see how a branded backdrop is useful for much more than videos. In future posts, we’ll be discussing several other contexts that are perfect for your video backdrop.

Get 10% Off Your Branded Video Backdrop

When You Use Promo Code VideoPromo Upon Checkout!

If you don’t already have a branded backdrop to use at your event, we’ve got you covered. We offer them through the Platinum Promotional Shop, and when you order using promo code VideoPromo, you’ll be able to get 10% off your customized branded backdrop.

Worth Sharing

4 Steps to Endless Referrals

Some people will tell you that simply asking for referrals is the key to getting them. This is not entirely true. In fact, without the proper foundation in place, asking for referrals can be an exercise in futility. So what is the key to creating a steady referral stream? Read the guide to find out.

Not a Platinum member?

]]>http://platinumstrategies.com/month-in-review-march-2/feed/04 Lessons Advisors Can Learn From March Madnesshttp://platinumstrategies.com/lessons-advisors-can-learn-from-march-madness/
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 20:39:41 +0000http://platinumstrategies.com/?p=13572Selection Sunday is behind us and March Madness has begun! During the coming weeks, 68 teams will compete for college basketball’s biggest prize. Even if you’re not a college basketball fan, there are valuable business lessons you can learn from March Madness.

Effective sports franchises, like effective companies, adhere to strategies that will increase their chances of success.

Here are four lessons from March Madness that can help you run a better practice.

1. Have a Game Plan

It’s easy to get caught up in the routine day-to-day, putting out fires, managing your team, and seeing to client needs. If you allow all of your time to be consumed by such activities and you never put a plan in writing, you won’t reach your full potential.

As a profession that is based on helping other people plan for their futures, these numbers are an absolute embarrassment. Top-performing advisers know that they have to commit their goals to writing every year. They put retirement plans, succession plans, and marketing plans in place. They evaluate their progress on a consistent basis.

When you invest the time to put your plans in writing, you demonstrate intention and commitment, make your ideas more concrete, find clarity, build your confidence, and increase your likelihood of success.

2. Assemble the Right Team, and Get Out Of Their Way

The Duke Blue Devils won in 2015. You may have your guesses (or hopes) of which team will win this year. However, it won’t be a team with a tyrannical, micro-managing lone eagle. Winning is dependent upon having a well-rounded team rather than one strong player or coach.

The Type-A personality traits that make so many advisors successful are often the same traits that hold them back.

The feeling that they need to be involved in every minor occurrence in their practice. The urge to micromanage. The if-I-want-it-done-right-I’ll-do-it-myself mentality. All these shortcomings are impediments to success.

Once you put together a quality team, you have to get out of their way. Top performers don’t need someone breathing down their neck in order to get things done.

The most effective financial advisors focus 100% of their energy on the things they are uniquely qualified to handle: meeting with clients, gathering assets, selecting investments, etc. Everything else gets delegated.

In the end, it’s the combination of team support, sense of autonomy, and accountability that will get the best out of your business.

3. Pay Attention to Details

Paying attention to details–even small ones–is vital. There’s a story about former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden which highlights this point beautifully:

The first day of practice, he would make his team practice putting on their socks. The players complied, but were perplexed by the process. Why would a coach like John Wooden waste his time coaching young men how to put their socks on?

Coach Wooden would later explain: “…if there are wrinkles in your socks or your shoes aren’t tied properly, you will develop blisters. With blisters, you’ll miss practice. If you miss practice, you don’t play. And if you don’t play, we cannot win.”

What’s the lesson for advisors? Put simply, if you want to beat your competition, you have to be better at everything–even the tiniest details.

There are times when clients leave, not because of one massive oversight, but because a multitude of minor details are out of place.

Is your website current?

Do you communicate with your clients regularly?

Do you do little things to make your best clients feel special and appreciated?

Do you dress nice and is your office well appointed?

Use the same energy and attentiveness to keep clients as you do to earn them.

Take account and start fixing the small details you’ve been ignoring.

4. Make Your Timeouts Productive

Do you carve out time in your schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly) to pause and reflect on how well you’re accomplishing your goals? When you look back at what you’ve achieved so far this year, are you satisfied with your results? If you aren’t seeing sustained, measured advancement in your practice, it may be because you need to improve in this area.

You and your team should be revisiting your game plan, measuring key performance indicators, and adjusting your direction on a regular basis. Furthermore, whenever there is a system breakdown in your practice or the pressure is high, seize the opportunity to have a ‘timeout’ with your team. Use such moments to realign priorities and make sure you are still on track to reach your goals.

Why not open your calendar right now and schedule a small block of time for this purpose each week?

Will You Play Your Best?

Plenty of teams have missed their window to qualify for a chance at the championship. Those teams will have to wait until next year for another opportunity.

But you don’t have to wait. You can start building a better practice today!

2016 Spring Newsletters

We’re proud to announce the 2016 Spring Newsletters. Our 2016 Spring Newsletters are full of high quality design and content which covers of range of financial and lifestyle topics. You can customize your newsletter to reflect your own brand. In fact, you can even co-brand it with a referral partner!

Not a Platinum member?

Ready to grow your business, keep your best clients, and shrink your workweek? Start by rating your goals, and we’ll send you a customized action plan completely free. Just click the button below.Get Started for FREE

How often are you reaching out to prospects and clients? To help you add to the effectiveness of your strategy, Platinum Advisor Strategies has recently released a powerful marketing and communications tool for financial advisors.

We’re proud to announce the 2016 Spring Newsletters. They are available in print and digital formats.

Our 2016 Spring Newsletters are full of high quality design and content which covers of range of financial and lifestyle topics. You can customize your newsletter to reflect your own brand. In fact, you can even co-brand it with a referral partner!

Watch the video above for more information, or take a look below for full previews of each style of newsletter.

Preview the Full Issues Below

Perspectives
Perspectives can be described as high-end, luxury, upscale, and minimalist. The style is similar to magazines like Real Simple, Garden and Gun, or Southern Living.

On Wealth
On Wealth can be described as professional, fun, friendly, and unique. The style is similar to magazines like Men’s Health, Wired, or Entertainment Weekly.

Let us mail you a sample.

Fill out the short form below.

Already a Platinum Member?

If you are a Platinum Member, you can order your 2016 Spring Newsletters here:

Worth Sharing

What You Need to Discuss Volatility

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access and use timely material that addresses client concerns. You can click the link below to see the results for all recent products related to volatility. This includes a bold magazine ad that was released today!

Worth Sharing

What You Need to Discuss Volatility

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access and use timely material that addresses client concerns. You can click the link below to see the results for all recent products related to volatility. This includes a bold magazine ad that was released today!

Featured Content

There is a definite process for how you can move forward in your life and achieve what you want both professionally and personally. In this article, Dan Klein covers the first three steps of the process.

Worth Sharing

Save the Date!

September 28 – 30, 2016
Hyatt Regency Orlando

The search for marketing insight and a competitive edge never stops. We hope you’ll join us this September as we share marketing strategies, tactics, and success stories from other advisors. There’s much more information to follow, so stay tuned!

]]>http://platinumstrategies.com/month-in-review-december-2/feed/0Professional & Personal Improvement Starts with 3 Stepshttp://platinumstrategies.com/professional-personal-improvement-starts-with-3-steps/
http://platinumstrategies.com/professional-personal-improvement-starts-with-3-steps/#respondWed, 16 Dec 2015 17:02:22 +0000http://platinumstrategies.com/?p=13301As we cruise toward the end of 2015, it’s a time for a lot of people to reflect on where they would like to be at this time next year.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

People have the best of intentions when it comes to growth. But then they stall!

They get started for a bit, and then something more important comes up and puts them right back to where they started…and then it’s December all over again.

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.
– Stephen R. Covey

I have lost count of how many people I speak with that say they want to do things other than what they are currently doing or grow in some new way. In my line of work, I come across individuals and entrepreneurs who seek us out for that very reason.

I can make one general promise to everyone reading this – you can wish for whatever you want, but if you keep doing what you are doing right now, you have the same chance of wishing for a unicorn to appear in your life.

Now that may seem harsh, but I owe it to you to give you the most realistic view I can.

You may be asking yourself, “So what’s the point of this?”

There is a definite process for how you can move forward in your life and achieve what you want both professionally and personally, and I will cover the first three steps here.

1. Be clear about what you want.

The first step to bringing change to your life is to list out the specifics of what you actually want to accomplish.

Now I can almost hear you on the other side of that screen…”Dan, give me something real here! I get it.”

No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking.
– J. P. Morgan

Here’s the reason: if you want to bring about any kind of change in your life you need to be as specific as you can.

Do you know what holds most people back? It’s the limiting beliefs around what they actually think they can accomplish.

So where do you stand in all of this?

You won’t know until you write it out. Do you want a promotion, additional clients, a certain lifestyle? That’s the type of thing you can capture in this first step.

One question I usually get in this step is “What are my limitations in this part of the process?” – the answer is whatever limits you place on your own goals will be self-imposed.

“So, Dan. What about being realistic?”

Well here’s the thing, depending on what you want to accomplish, it may take you multiple years. And that’s ok!

It’s easy to get stuck in this part of the process because of the sense of vulnerability and personal risk in articulating what you really want out of life. A lot of us have been conditioned to hold back when it comes to imagining what our future could be like!

Now, don’t get carried away. If you’re an adult and you want to grow taller, I would say that’s out of the realm for this, but anything else is pretty much fair game for this part.

I have seen people do extraordinary things and you need to give yourself the gift of a starting point – this is it.

2. Commit to growth.

Are you serious about achievement and progress? Then you have to pay special attention to this second step.

What are you willing to change, remove, or adjust in order to achieve your goals?

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
– Napoleon Hill

Here’s the simplest way that I can articulate this – when you drive over a bridge, either before or after you cross you need to pay some sort of toll.

That’s exactly how this works.

The bigger the toll, the more significant the bridge (shout out to Napoleon Hill for that gem!).

If you are looking to do something different in your life and not willing to commit to paying the personal price to get there, then that’s where our unicorn friend comes in.

When it comes to achieving long-lasting sustainable results, good intentions really don’t matter.

I could want to do a whole bunch of things in my life, but if I’m not willing to pay the personal toll; whether that’s learning a new skill, adjusting my current thinking, or being uncomfortable at some point in my journey– my chance of getting there is pretty much zero.

So in picturing the list that you may be creating, what will you need to work on in order to get there?

For some people this could be your current thinking – are you limiting your own progress in some way? For others it could be learning a new set of skills, taking a class or diving into a new industry.

For others this could involve doing something that seems uncomfortable at first.

I work with a lot of salespeople who want to attract new clients. A lot of them are motivated by helping others, but they don’t want to “sell” – now that’s a fun challenge!

What behaviors would you need to shift in order to reach your goals? What current thinking is hurting you? Are there certain mindsets you need to abandon in order to set out in this new direction?

These are the types of questions that need to be answered during this part.

3. Commit to action.

OK! Quick show of hands – how many people know someone that would like to write a book?

Pretty much everyone, I would suspect.

I bring this up as a good example of having a clear picture of what you want and no plan of how to get there.

I’m sure a lot of really interesting books could be written, but why don’t they? A majority of the time there’s no plan of action because it seems pretty darn overwhelming and then life gets in the way.

Action is the foundational key to all success.
– Pablo Picasso

This is where you need to identify specific actions that will help you reach your goals.

In the previous step, did you identify that you need a new skill? Well, here is where you commit to action and find the mentor, program, or course that will give you that skill.

Where would you like to be in your progress at certain points of the year?

Sometimes people focus on the “how’s”. What I mean by this is that people get caught up in a lot of details for “how” they’re going to accomplish something.

Normally, people use this line of questioning to identify all the external factors (all the roadblocks) that will keep them from accomplishing their goals….or they’ll identify all of the pieces (more like excuses) that need to be in place to get them to move forward.

My suggestion would be to let the “how’s” take care of themselves.

I believe that your time is better spent here focusing on the “what’s”. For example: what are some specific things you can do to further your progress? What may hold you back on your journey? What can you measure to see if you’re actually making progress? What (if anything) about you will be different if you actually achieve these goals?

So there’s my suggested process as you look to set new goals for next year, or tackle projects you didn’t get around to starting this year.

I don’t mean in any way to minimize how difficult change may be. I know there are many more things to incorporate into your strategy as you begin your journey. Don’t worry, we’ll get there!

In my next article I will share how this all comes together and will also talk about what I believe is the jet fuel that can propel you as you look to reach your goals. Good luck!

Special Offer!

Have you wanted to make a change in your financial practice? Imagine yourself next December. Will you look back on 2016 and be proud of the changes you made in your business, or will you feel slightly frustrated that an entire year went by with little to no measurable difference?

Platinum Advisor Strategies can help.

You can get started for free by creating your customized action plan. Plus! If you join us by the end of the year, we’ll send you a special gift — a Hoverboard!

Featured Content

You already know how important it is to take pictures at your social events. Here’s a great tip that will add excitement, prestige, and an extra touch of class to your next event photos…and to the event experience itself.

Featured Content

These social events are fun and exciting! Here are our recommendations for throwing a successful football party. Includes links to a planning checklist, invitation, and a handful of promotional products that are sure to delight your guests.

Worth Sharing

Join Us This Thursday

We want to set you up for success, which is why you’re invited to join us online for the 2016 Marketing and Communication Plan Review this November 5th at 4PM EST.

It’s important to register since we’ll be sending you an email the day of the event with a link to download your own planning calendar. You’ll be able to follow along during the session as you build out your rock-solid plan for 2016.